Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To observe the regulation of electroacupuncture on gene expression at calcium signaling pathways in mice with cerebral ischemia reperfusion.METHODS:Sixty male, inbred Kunming mice were randomly assigned to three groups:repeated cerebral ischemia reperfusion group(RG, n = 24),sham-operated group(SG, n = 12), and electroacupuncture group(EG, n = 24).Mice in RG and EGgroups were modeled by repeated cerebral ischemia reperfusion surgery, and EG mice were treated with electroacupuncture for 30 min after recovery from anesthesia.Changes in gene expression profile of mice hippocampi were analyzed by global expression profile microarray.Genes that were up-regulated or down-regulated greater than 1.5folds were considered to be biologically meaningful.Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(q-PCR) method was used to verify the expression of selected genes based on the algorithm [2^(ΔΔCt)].RESULTS:Compared with SG mice, 242 genes showed different in expressions in RG mice:107down-regulated and 135 up-regulated.Compared with RG mice, 609 genes showed a difference of expression in EG mice:315 down-regulated and 375up-regulated.Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses indicated two pathways:calcium signaling and long-term potentiation in which 11 differentially expressed genes selected.Six of the 11 genes in the calcium signaling pathway were verified after real-time q-PCR testing.CONCLUSION:Electroacupuncture treatment of cerebral ischemia reperfusion appears to regulate Atp2a2, Cacna1 e, Camk2 a, Gnas, Grm1, Rapgef3 genes in the calcium signaling pathway.

Key words: Electroacupuncture, Gene expression profiling, Mice, Brain Ischemia, Reperfusion injury, Calcium signaling pathway